It's cliché to say the wheels of justice turn slowly, but at least they turned in Allen Adler's favor.
I wrote about Adler more than a year ago when he feared he had lost $2,649 in a time-share scam to International Paradigm Marketing of Winter Garden, Fla.
Adler said the company told him it had found a buyer for his Orlando time share and he had to pay fees to seal the deal. His time share never was sold, and Adler fought to get his money back.
He got it last month from Florida consumer protection authorities who investigated his complaint and the complaints of several other angry clients of International Paradigm Marketing.
The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services told me it recouped a total of $17,557 for 12 people by filing claims against the surety bond the company had been required to post to work as a telemarketer.
Adler, of Catasauqua, told me he was surprised when he received his check.
"I was very lucky," he said. "I still didn't think I'd ever get it back."
Department records on Adler's case say the company did not respond to inquiries from investigators. I couldn't reach the company. Its phone number and website are not in service. The Florida Department of State lists the company as inactive.
"Our investigations concluded that there was some fault with International Paradigm Marketing which allowed us the ability to access their bond," Sterling Ivey, a spokesman for the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, said in an email, "I understand the business closed so there was no further action taken by our department."
Adler had contacted me in August 2010 about his run-in with the company. He said International Paradigm Marketing had called him that spring to ask if he wanted to sell his time share. He did. He paid $565 to list the property.
Adler said he got the call a few months later saying a buyer had been found and he needed to pay advance fees to complete the deal. He sent a cashier's check for $2,649.
At my suggestion, he filed a complaint with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to recoup that money. I'm glad it paid off.
When people come to me with problems, I often suggest they lodge formal complaints with state or federal authorities. I know that's a hassle because you must fill out forms, copy documents and spend time on the phone. And I know sometimes those complaints don't get you results. But sometimes, as in Adler's case, they do.
"In my case, it was worth it," Adler said.
He previously had recouped the $565 property listing fee by filing a fraud report with the credit card he had paid with.
He still is trying to get back the final money he lost on the transaction, $400 he paid a title company in Orlando. Adler received a letter in August from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service saying it and the Orange County (Fla.) sheriff's office "are conducting a criminal investigation" of the firm.
Time-share resale scams continue to be a big problem. In the past few weeks, the FBI, Internet Crime Complaint Center and Bucks County Crimes Against Older Adults Task Force all issued warnings.
The FBI and Internet Crime Complaint Center said time share owners "are being scammed out of millions of dollars by unscrupulous companies that promise to sell or rent the unsuspecting victims' time shares."
Authorities said the scams are so prevalent they've spawned another scam, time-share fraud recovery businesses that promise to recoup money lost in time-share scams. Some recovery companies require advance fees while others promise no fees will be paid unless a refund is obtained.
The Internet Crime Complaint Center said it has discovered some cases where "people involved with the recovery company also have a connection to the resale company, raising the possibility that time-share owners are being scammed twice by the same people."
I suspect it isn't easy selling a time share in this economy. If you are trying, be wary of companies that say they've found a buyer and demand that you pay advance closing costs. There should be no need for that.
The recent time-share scam warnings and my previous column on International Paradigm Marketing are on my blog at http://blogs.mcall.com/watchdog/.
UPDATE: Contractor James Carpenter III of Multi-Phase Construction in Whitehall Township pleaded guilty Thursday to two felony counts of home improvement fraud. Carpenter, 48, remains free on bail pending his sentencing, which is scheduled for next month.
Carpenter admitted collecting a total of $152,000 from two women to renovate their homes and doing only about $54,000 in work. More information from his guilty plea hearing is on my blog, and I'll follow up with a column after his sentencing.
The Watchdog is published Thursdays and Sundays. Contact me by email at watchdog@mcall.com, by phone at 610-841-2364 (ADOG), by fax at 610-820-6693, or by mail at The Morning Call, 101 N. Sixth St., Allentown, PA, 18101. Follow me on Twitter at mcwatchdog and on Facebook at Morning Call Watchdog.
